(Coral Sea, Australia) <br /> <br />I <br />DEAD in the sheep-pen he lies, <br />Wrapped in an old brown sail. <br />The smiling blue sea and the skies <br />Know not sorrow nor wail. <br />Dragged up out of the hold, <br />Dead on his last way home, <br />Worn-out, wizened, a Chinee old, — <br />O he is safe — at home! <br />Brother, I stand not as these <br />Staring upon you here. <br />One of earth's patient toilers at peace <br />I see, I revere! <br />II <br />In the warm cloudy night we go <br />From the motionless ship; <br />Our lanterns feebly glow; <br />Our oars drop and drip. <br />We land on the thin pale beach, <br />The coral isle's round us; <br />A glade of driven sand we reach; <br />Our burial ground's found us. <br />There we dig him a grave, jesting; <br />We know not his name. <br />What heeds he who is resting, resting? <br />Would I were the same! <br />Come away, it is over and done! <br />Peace and he shall not sever, <br />By moonlight nor light of the sun, <br />For ever and ever! <br />III <br />Dirge <br />'Sleep in the pure driven sand, <br />(No one will know) <br />In the coral isle by the land <br />Where the blue tides come and go. <br />'Alive, thou wert poor, despised; <br />Dead, thou canst have <br />What mightiest monarchs have prized, <br />An eternal grave! <br />'Alone with the lovely isles, <br />With the lovely deep, <br />Where the sea-winds sing and the sunlight smiles, <br />Thou liest asleep!'<br /><br />Francis William Lauderdale Adams<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-death-at-sea/
